''Chaappa Kurishu'' ( (slang)) is a

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

co-written and directed by

Sameer Thahir Sameer C. Thahir (born 7 November 1976) is an Indian cinematography, cinematographer, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and film director, who works primarily in Malayalam cinema. He is a graduate of Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, Mahar ...

and starring

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian actor, director, producer, dubbing artist, screenwriter, playback singer and lyricist who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is the eldest son of actor and screenwriter Sreeniva ...

Fahadh Faasil Abdul Hameed Mohammed Fahad Fazil (born 8 August 1982), professionally known as Fahadh Faasil, is an Indian actor and producer who primarily works in Malayalam films. Noted for his diverse portrayals, Fahadh is among the highest-paid and most ...

Roma Asrani Roma Asrani is an Indian former actress who mainly appeared in Malayalam films. Her career peaked between 2006 and 2011. She has acted in over 24 movies. Early life and career Roma Asrani was born to Sindhi parents in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. She ...

Remya Nambeesan Remya Nambessan (born 24 March 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer, who primarily works in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has acted in over 72 films. She started her career as child artist and supporting roles in early 2000s, and went ...

, and

Nivetha Thomas Nivetha Thomas (born 2 November 1994) is an Indian actress who appears in Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil language films. She made her film debut as a child artist in the 2008 Malayalam film ''Veruthe Oru Bharya''. Nivetha is an recipient of a Ke ...

in the lead roles. The film started production in April 2011 at

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

and was released on 14 July. It is the directorial debut of Thahir. The film was remade in Tamil as ''

Pulivaal ''Pulivaal'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language comedy thriller film directed by G. Marimuthu, and produced by Sarath Kumar and Listin Stephen. It stars Vimal, Prasanna, Oviya, Ananya, and Ineya. The film is a remake of the 2011 Malayalam fil ...

'' with Vimal and Prasanna. The film is an unauthorized remake of the 2009 South Korean film '' Handphone'', along with its reported structural similarity to the 2002 American film ''

Changing Lanes ''Changing Lanes'' is a 2002 American drama thriller film directed by Roger Michell and starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. The film follows a successful, young Wall Street lawyer (Affleck) who accidentally crashes his car into a vehic ...

''.

Plot

Arjun, a wealthy builder who owns a big construction business in

, is having an illicit affair with his subordinate, Sonia, even though he is preparing to be engaged to his family friend's daughter, Ann. Ansari, a poor

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

worker frequently mocked for his appearance, is crushing on his co-worker Nafiza. Arjun is shown to be regretful of having taken advantage of Sonia's trust in him when she allowed him to record them.When Arjun and Sonia met in Arjun's flat, Arjun recorded them having sex on his mobile without Sonia knowing. Sonia too finds out about the leaked video, and after making a call to Arjun, is shown to be preparing for

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. A chase follows when Arjun tries to find Ansari. The confrontation between the two is vicious and bloody before finally settling down and resignedly going their separate ways. Sonia decides to leave town instead of killing herself. Arjun finds out and is seen seeking her out at the airport. He is all bruised from the fight, and the film leaves them at that point and ends with Ansari standing up to people who mock him.

Cast

as Ansari *

as Arjun Samuel *

as Ann *

as Sonia *

as Nafiza *

Jinu Joseph Jinu Joseph (born 21 December 1975) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam films Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam ...

as John *

Sunil Sukhada Sunil Sukhada is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He debuted in a small role in the film '' Best Actor''. His first full length role was as the supermarket manager in '' Chappa Kurishu'' (2011). He won a special mention in the Kerala state t ...

as Store Manager Martin *

Dinesh Panicker Dinesh Panicker is an Indian film producer, actor and Television producer, TV producer. He entered the film industry in 1989 by producing ''Kireedam (1989 film), Kireedam'', a critically acclaimed and commercially successful film. He went on to ...

as Samuel

Production

Title

"''Chappa Kurishu''" means Head or Tail in Malayalam. Sameer Thahir chose the title based on the two male leads, saying "I knew that they were the two sides of the same coin." He chose the colloquial term used in

, owing to his own locality."Behind The Camera: Chappayum Kurishum Screenil"
. Yentha.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.

Filming

''Chappa Kurishu'' was launched by actor

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

at the 100th day function of ''

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

''. The film was produced by

Listin Stephen Listin Stephen is an Indian film producer and distributor who works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi film industries. He founded the film production company Magic Frames that has produced and distributed a lot of successful movies over a decade. ...

who also produced ''Traffic''. It was director

Anwar Rasheed Anwar Rasheed is an Indian film director and producer who works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2005 with '' Rajamanikyam''. He continued to do successful action-comedy films, such as '' Chotta Mumbai'' (2007) and '' Annan Thambi'' ...

who introduced Sameer Thahir to Listin. The film started production in April 2011 at

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the central business district of the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is the namesake of Ernakulam district. The eastern part of Kochi city is mainly known as Ernakulam, while the western part of it after the Venduruthy Bridge ...

. The film was shot entirely with a

Canon 7D The Canon EOS 7D is a high-end APS-C digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It was announced on 1 September 2009 with a suggested retail price of US$1,699, and was marketed as a semi-professional DSLR camera. Among its features are ...

DSLR camera.

Reception

Keerthy Ramachandran of

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1938, it was initially launched as a Weekly newspaper, weekly and later converted into a daily. The newspaper's name reflects its origins in the ...

gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 stars saying "The film is a dark riveting account of the lives of two men who lead extremely contrasting lives." Veeyen of nowrunning.com rated the film 2.5/5 and said "It's a brave and genuinely heartfelt directorial effort from a young director, who has clearly won the toss this time around."

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

gave the film a score of 2.5 out of 5 saying "Chaappa Kurishu, Samir Thahir's debut as a director holds promise but leaves us with a feeling that it could have been better."

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

on its review said that "Chappa Kurishu shocks the viewers for sure, but sadly for all the wrong reasons." Indiaglitz rated the film 5/10 and wrote: "The generous dose of skin show sequence, violent action and the need for a more tighter scripts will tell on its business and restrict its appeal further to limited audiences."

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

Rex Vijayan Rex Vijayan (born 26 April 1983) is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out hi ...

with lyrics penned by Engandiyur Chandrasekharan.

Awards

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 2004191 2010s Malayalam-language films 2011 directorial debut films Indian chase films 2011 crime thriller films 2011 films Films scored by Rex Vijayan 2010s romantic thriller films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films shot in Kochi 2011 masala films Indian remakes of South Korean films Indian crime thriller films Indian romantic thriller films Films directed by Sameer Thahir 2010s chase films Unofficial film adaptations Indian psychological thriller films Films about mobile phones Films involved in plagiarism controversies Indian intellectual property law 2011 controversies Obscenity controversies in film Films shot in Ernakulam Films about suicide Indian crime drama films Films about grief Indian remakes of American films Films based on multiple works